Some Mountain Views

The author of this slender book of world wanderings in Alpine regions figures in Stephen d’Arve’s list as an American who ascended Mont Blanc on August 28, 1875. The author himself alludes to this event, accomplished in company with his uncle, Edward Silsbee, who once possessed the manuscript of Shelley’s “Skylark.” In a humorous chapter Mr. Silsbee is the hero (possibly the victim) of an adventure in which he lost his trousers while fording the Arveiron and startled the peasant women in the fields by emerging in an improvised straw skirt.

One is linked with the past by descriptions of an ascent of the Matterhorn with young Taugwalder, of Monte Rosa from the Riffel, and of the Jungfrau from the ancient shelter of Concordia. In addition to the Alpine section, there are chapters on mountain nomenclature, Fujiyama, and the views from Darjeeling.

Mr. Pickman, although selecting beautiful illustrations, has been unfortunate in captioning them. Thus, the peak shown (p. 21) is not the Jungfrau, but the Lauterbrunner Breithorn; the Klein Glockner (p. 51) is not in Tyrol, nor is Mt. Assiniboine (p. 55) entirely in British Columbia. The two views of the Everest massif (pp. 59, 90) are almost identical and show the Nepalese, not the Tibetan, side.

In the text there are also errors in the spelling of names: “Riffle” for Riffel, “Ruwensori” for Ruwenzori, “Nanga Tarbat” for Nanga Parbat, “Kashmere” for Kashmir.